Zohr field to make Egypt energy exporter

The Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail met on Tuesday with Eni’s CEO Claudio Descalzi to discuss Eni’s giant offshore gas project – Zohr.

According to Eni, the two focused on the future of the Zohr “mega field” and the positive impact it will have on the national energy economy, with CEO Claudio Descalzi outlining the progress being made with the rapid development of the project.

Thanks to the significant operational synergies that Eni has been able to exploit with its facilities in the area, the development of Zohr is 80% complete less than two years after the discovery was made, a record in the oil industry, the Italian company said.

“With a potential of 850 billion cubic meters of gas in place, not only will Zohr be able to satisfy almost all of the total domestic gas demand for the coming decades, it will also allow Egypt to return to being a net energy exporter,” Eni said.

Eni is the main producer in the country with production reaching approximately 230,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. In its recent quarterly report, Eni confirmed the production from the Zohr field would begin at the end of 2017.

Zohr was discovered by Eni in August of 2015 and, with a total potential of 850 billion cubic meters of gas in place, is the largest natural gas field ever discovered in the Mediterranean.